Broken Roads
by Stardust16
Summary: "It's fine, Smackle," the genius assured his girl as he lifted his head from his bag and passed her the power bank. "I passed my driver's test with a perfect score. Trust me, nothing's gonna go—" "Farkle, look out!" Rated T. Set in Season 3, includes Smarkle.


Farkle felt _awful_.

No, that was an understatement. If he was really being honest, he felt just downright guilty. He and Smackle had been in a car crash, and while he managed to escape with a few broken bones and a concussion, she herself wasn't so lucky.

But it was kind of a long story and although he didn't want to explain it, he assumed he should.

* * *

They were driving back to his house after a day of studying at Topanga's. It was relatively warm outside and since the heat was coming down so quickly and they had a science test next Tuesday, Farkle suggested they'd go to Topanga's to cool off, to which Smackle agreed.

They'd been studying for the past two hours when they decided to head back. Farkle had been the one driving while Smackle was searching through her bag for something.

"Are you excited for the test on Tuesday?" He asked with both hands on the wheel, as he tried to make conversation.

"Of course I am, beloved," the female genius answered as she continued digging through her back, "That's not a real question, is it?"

Farkle laughed, but stopped and out of the corner of his eye, saw his girlfriend huff. "What are you looking for?" He asked, curiously.

"My power bank," She answered. "My cousin's has been texting me for the past few minutes, but I haven't been able to text back since my phone's almost dead. He wants to know if I can come to his soccer game next week or so."

"Oh," Farkle said in response. He had then taken his hands off the wheel and began digging through his backpack as the car continued to move. He was just about to grab his own power bank when he heard his girlfriend call him.

"Farkle?" He heard Smackle's voice from above him. "Farkle, maybe you shouldn't—"

"It's fine, Smackle," the genius assured his girl as he lifted his head from his bag and passed her the power bank. "I passed my driver's test with a perfect score. Trust me, nothing's gonna go—"

"Farkle, look out!"

"Gosh!" Just barely, Farkle managed to grab the wheel and swerve them away from the giant truck they were about to hit. However, that one move threw them off the road and sent them crashing into a tree. The two teens had then screamed, just before the world they knew and their surroundings faded to black.

* * *

"Farkle? Farkle?" The young genius heard, "Farkle, are you awake?"

Upon hearing the voices, the genius opened his eyes, though his vision was still blurry and spinning. "D-Dad?" He groaned, groggily, as he tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down, "T-That you?"

"No," The voice answered softly, "It's me, Cory. Don't try to sit up. Your dad's stuck in traffic and you took a nasty hit to the head. He was in a meeting, but he dismissed it as soon as he heard about the accident."

"Accident?" Farkle asked, squinting. He was tired and confused, and though he did the best he could to keep up with the conversation, his inquiry came out more like a repeated statement than a question.

"You and Smackle were in an accident," Cory said slowly, "You don't remember?"

"N-No," Farkle replied. He shook his head but stopped doing so, as the room was still spinning. "How long was I out?"

"Few hours or so," the tenth grade history teacher stated. He then shook his head before speaking again. "You and Smackle crashed into a tree. You should be grateful you got out with such few injuries, Farkle. If some man hadn't seen you guys on the side of the road, you and Smackle would probably both be dead by now."

"I know," Farkle whispered quietly. After a minute or two, his eyes widened in realization and he seemed to have caught on to something. "Smackle!" He yelled as he sat up briskly, only for Cory to try and get him to lie back down, but he resisted. His vision was spinning, yes, and his head pounded like he was hit with a sledgehammer, but Smackle was more important than that. "Oh my gosh, what happened to her?! Where is she?! Is she awake?! Is she alright?! She's not dead, is she?!"

Cory, in response, shifted his weight from foot to foot and bit his lip, hesitantly. He knew Farkle was worried about Smackle—they were dating, after all—but he also knew that Farkle was injured and he definitely didn't want to put such stress on his student by telling him the terrible news.

"Mr. Matthews?" Farkle repeated once more, this time calmer and with a much more worried tone, "What happened? Is Smackle okay?"

At this moment, Cory decided it was best to tell his student the truth. There was no point in lying in a situation like this—it'd only turn into a big web of white lies and there was no point in worrying his student by not telling him the news. Besides, he knew Farkle was a genius; he'd find out anyway, one way or another.

"No," Cory finally spoke as he sat on the bed, thinking it'd be better to deliver this kind of news sitting rather than standing. "No, Farkle, she's not. Her parents are with her right now, but they filled me in on all the details while you were unconscious."

"What's wrong with her?" the genius asked as he tried to control his impatience and worry.

"She—She wasn't doing good on the ride here, for starters. They almost lost her twice, but she managed to pull through both times. Unfortunately, she suffered some internal damage, but has also received a sprained wrist as well as some mild amnesia."

"So she doesn't remember what happened?" Farkle asked, thinking he had full understanding of the situation at hand.

"Not exactly," Cory responded. When Farkle didn't say anything, he kept going. "She remembers bits and pieces of what happened—flashbacks, if you will—but...she doesn't remember your relationship."

At this, Farkle blinked back tears, his efforts barely successful. _'This is all my fault,'_ He thought to himself, _'Maybe—Maybe if I hadn't been so—so stupid, this wouldn't have happened. I-If I'd just stopped at a red light or at the very least, pulled over, this wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't be in a hospital right now, my girlfriend wouldn't of nearly died in the ambulance and most of all, she wouldn't have amnesia and would've remembered our relationship. Gosh, how can I be s-so stupid?!'_

"Farkle?" Cory questioned, worriedly, placing a hand on his student's shoulder as he did so, "Farkle, are you okay?"

"F-Fine," Farkle responded, his voice cracking slightly, "I-I'm fine, Matthews."

But Cory knew he wasn't. Farkle's face had turned awfully pale in just a few seconds, he was trembling and he looked like he was going to pass out. But, Cory also knew that the mood for conversation was dropped and didn't want to pressure his student into doing anything he didn't want to do. So, instead, he simply asked if the young genius wanted to be alone.

"Yeah," Farkle answered with sadness evident in his voice, "Yeah, Matthews, that'd be great, thanks."

"Anytime," Cory replied as he stood up and headed towards the door, "I'll just be outside letting your parents know you're alright, in case you need anything."

"Thanks," the genius muttered, "But I'm sure I'll be fine."

However, those six words Farkle muttered weren't truthful and if he was being truthful, he could say for sure that he wasn't sure of anything at all.

* * *

 _Five days._

They'd both been in the hospital for the past five days, from Friday to Wednesday, and during that time, Farkle decided that it was best not to tell Smackle of their past relationship for three reasons.

One, he didn't want her to feel like she had to act a certain way around him or make her feel out of place. Two, he didn't want things to be awkward for them and three, she probably wouldn't have been remembered him anyways, whether he liked it or not.

So it didn't matter anyways.

But that didn't mean Farkle was okay with it.

"Farkle?" He snapped out of his thoughts, only to realize Riley was talking to him. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," He shrugged. It seemed like people were asking him that a lot lately. "I'm perfectly fine, Riley—"

"No."

Farkle looked at his friend, shocked and surprised at Riley's boldness. "No?" He questioned, confused, "What do you mean 'no'?"

Riley looked at her friend, giving him a _really?_ look. "No," She spoke, "No, you're not fine. You've only been back at school for two days, Farkle, but you're still injured and I can tell you miss her more than ever."

"N-No, I don't, Riley." Farkle shook his head. "I don't miss her at all."

"Yes, you do," Riley spoke in a soft tone, but it had some kind of strength or force behind it, "You miss her, Farkle, I can tell, and I can also tell that you feel bad because you feel like it's your fault and nothing has ever been your fault before, so this is the first time that it is and it's killing you inside because you can't take it."

"Well what do you want me to do, Riley?" He threw his arms—er, arm, up in the air. The other one was still sitting in his sling, broken. "It's been twelve days since the accident, almost two weeks, it's too late to tell her the truth and I certainly can't do that to her now, right when everything's getting back to normal."

"Farkle, nothing has _ever_ been normal for us. And besides, she's still your friend. You guys still hang out with each other."

Farkle shook his head. "Not as much as we used to."

Riley took a deep breath and sighed, annoyed. "That's a lie and you know it."

Farkle shrugged, not seeing the point. "So? What are you going to do about it?"

Riley smiled before turning on her heels. "Watch me," She said before walking off.

It took Farkle a minute before he put pieces together and a lightbulb went off in his head. Knowing what Riley was going to do, he quickly sprinted and caught her arm, barely reaching her in time. He had then pulled her into the janitor's closet, before quietly slamming the door behind them.

"What were you thinking?" He yelled, though his voice was barely above a whisper, "Riley, you can't tell Smackle what really happened!"

The brunette rolled her eyes, annoyed and confused, as she stood with her arms crossed. "Farkle, you make it sound like we're secretly in love or something. And besides, don't you want her to remember?"

Farkle sighed. "I do, but I don't want to force her. If she doesn't remember what we had, then that's fine; it's over with, done, end of discussion."

He had then turned and left, leaving Riley standing there in shock and sorrow.

Thank _goodness_ he did not have his next class with her.

* * *

The next few days were...difficult, to put it, for Farkle. Maya was out of town with Shawn, while Lucas and Zay went back to Texas for some family emergency, so all he had to talk with was Riley and Smackle, the two people he wanted to avoid.

It wasn't until two days after that he actually had some sort of contact with them.

It was a late Thursday night and he was working on his English analysis when it happened—or rather, he was trying to. It's kinda hard to work on a paper when you only have one arm functioning. But he was doing it anyway and he'd just gotten past the first paragraph when he heard a tap at his window.

"Smackle?" He asked quietly as he opened up his window to let her in, "What are you doing here?"

Smackle paused, thoughts filling her head, but eventually decided to continue. "Riley told me to come here," She spoke softly, "She told me something rather intriguing today, Farkle."

Farkle sighed. He knew this would happen. He knew she'd try to do this and that she'd try to help, but it'd just end up failing in the end because sometimes—just sometimes—you can't fix things. "What did she say?" He asked, dreading what she was about to tell him.

"She told me that we were in that accident _together_."

Farkle paused, hesitation circling his mind. Was that all Riley told her?

"Are you okay?" Smackle questioned, bringing him back to reality.

Farkle laughed dryly. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Smackle's mouth stood in a straight line now. "Perhaps," She said. She had then lowered her voice before she spoke again, examining the little knick knacks and pictures around the room as she did so. "She also told me that...that we were dating at the time it happened, Farkle."

"Oh," He said in what he hoped was a surprised tone, "Were we? I couldn't remember."

Smackle laughed, though he could tell she didn't really mean it. "Come on, Farkle," She joked, "I'm the one with the missing memories, not you."

He stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She spoke again.

"I-I don't know..."

"Farkle, we're friends. Friends are supposed to tell each other things. I want to know why you didn't tell me this."

At this, Farkle's head snapped up, in surprise and somewhat disbelief. "Smackle," He asked, slowly, "How on earth could have told you you that we were dating at the time of the accident?"

Smackle stood with her arms crossed, seemingly annoyed, but at the same time she was trying not to break down crying. "I don't know," She answered, despite the fact it was a rhetorical question, "But I'd rather hear it from you than someone else, Farkle." She had then turned on her heels and was about to swing herself back over the window when he spoke again.

"Wait," He called out, slightly stopping the female genius from leaving.

"Yes?" Smackle paused, hopeful.

Farkle sighed. "I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just didn't want to ruin our friendship."

Smackle took a step towards the boy, curious. "How so?" She asked, confused.

"Well, for one, I didn't want you to act awkward around me or anything—"

"Farkle, I do that around everybody anyway. It doesn't make much of a difference."

At this, Farkle laughed for what felt like the first time in forever. "I know," He smiled before turning serious again. "But, Smackle, I was really worried and didn't tell you we were dating because first, I didn't know how, and second, I thought it was best for the both of us if I didn't. I didn't want to put more pressure on you than you already had."

Smackle nodded, listening eagerly. "I understand, Farkle," She spoke slowly. She took a step closer and for once, he let her, instead of backing away. "But next time...just tell me, okay? How am I supposed to know how you're feeling if I don't know how you're feeling?"

Farkle nodded as the two came in for a hug (well, the best you can do for a hug when someone has a sprained wrist and someone else has a broken arm). Once they were wrapped in each others' arms, he sighed. "I'm sorry, Isadora," He whispered into her ear.

Upon hearing this, Smackle released the hug and stared her boyfriend in the eyes before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "I love you," She whispered.

"I love you too," Farkle whispered, as the two pulled each other close once more and resumed the hug. There, they stayed for what felt like forever, because they didn't want to let go.

And they didn't have to.

* * *

 ** _End._**


End file.
